sense the vietnam war, which is nonsense, and was very anti his own party and people. people don't forget that. >> the heroes of newtown. president obama pos thumously awards the medal to six people who died while rescuing the children. >> dawn hotsprung and mary serlach, vicky solo, lauren russo, rachel devino, ann marie murphy. they gave their lives to protect the precious children in their care. they gave all they had for the most innocent and helpless among us. that's who we honor today. the courageous heart, the selfless spirit, the inspiring actions of extraordinary americans. >> the triumph was no triumph. the carnival cruise ship finally reaches shore, and -- >> we didn't have water.

we didn't have showers. we didn't have hot meals. >> it was literally like being in a floating port-a-potty. >> what's the first thing you're going to do? >> um -- >> charged with murder. the shocking court appearance today of the blade runner south africa's star double amputee sprinter. >> siberian skies. a ten-ton meet orrite threatens thousands with a window-shattering sonic boom. in a cosmic coincidence, it came just hours before today's suspected close call with a 150-mile wide asteroid. david letterman says don't panic. >> do not fear the approaching asteroid. the nation of iran has solved the problem. we have launched our monkey back into space where it will deflect the asteroid with a coconut.

sfwlirchlt joining me now a star panel, chris calizza anding manage editor of post politics.com, chuck todd, nbc news chief white house correspondent, political director, host of "the daily rundown" and nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. welcome all. kelly, this is your territory. we've seen a lot of dramatic confirmation votes in the past. this is an unprecedented defense nominee. republicans say it's not a filibuster. well, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a filibuster. they're now on recess. >> they're going to be back in a week, and that week is apparently the difference that is needed from the republicans who want more team to review his record, want to try to extract more transcripts of speeches. there's the group that's really essentially anti-hagel that is

hoping something will happen. 1346 this is about that under current of not believing in their view that hagel is the right man for the job, but they know when they come back it is more than likely that he will get that hurdle passed and already has 57 committed yeses, more than enough to put him in the job. >> as the time continues, it's a drip, drip, drip process. they keep trying to tag him for benghazi and get that letter that they got yesterday while we were on the air from the white house lawyer on benghazi as to what the president did and what did he know, when did he know it, and did he go to bed while leon panetta was up all night? that just seems so extraneous. it's just using chuck hagel as hostage for the lerchlg because wasn't even around during benghazi. >> it certainly seems -- andrea, i guess i'm skeptical of the idea that in the week's time

they really need time to review what chuck hagel has said in the past, his speeches. he know chuck hagel has said controversial things about iran and we know he has said controversial things about homo sexuality that he has since apologized for. this delay seems to me maybe i'm being too cynical and political that that's kind of my thing, but this delay seems to be about the opponents of chuck hagel who do not think he is suited to be secretary of defense want one more week to see if there is anything that comes out that can be disqualifying for him. if there isn't -- if you are hagel, you never want to be twisting in the wind for another week while you kind of sit silently and europe independents do everything they can to kind of find something disqualifying? >> susan rice, the nominee that would have, could have, should have, some say, been secretary

of state and lost because of benghazi in that appearance and all the other things on the talking points. she, chuck todd, was on with john stewart last night, which is, you know, a gutsy call to go on with john stewart, and he reviewed the bidding with her on the talking points and what went wrong. >> the bigger tragedy, though, john, is we spent all of these months trying to figure out the origin of some talking points which were cleared at the highest levels of the intelligence community, and my opinion not enough time doing the service that we owed to our fallen colleagues who had been lost. >> so you've got benghazi still being examined. they're not willing to let that go. john brennan facing serious questions from the intelligence committee. they want more paperwork, more explanations about targeted killing, and chuck hagel -- >> it is, and -- look, there is a surge of republicans who belief that for political purposes because of the timing of the campaign, that somehow there was an attempt to down its

play al qaeda's role. when you sort of look at it in the totally of what we know about benghazi and what we now know about a war in mali, what we know about warning secretary clinton and warning secretary panetta have been given about knott africa. it seems small potatoes. it seems as sort of silly as going after president bush. you know, at some point you are, like, okay, we understand you're upset at the moment, and you didn't think at the moment they handled it right, but we're in another place right now. this is like a whole other argument. ultimately john mccain did some straight talk yesterday. he said what this is really about. this is about -- this is personal. this is about hagel. what i find interesting, it was funny to hear john mccain say you are so anti-bush, and i wonder if there are a bunch of bush first term folks saying you remember a republican senator who used to say some anti-bush things. >> and just a quick note, chris calizza, the fact that frank -- what people expected him to do,

which was to step down, he is the last world war ii veteran -- >> 89. >> 89 years old. as kelly points out. cory booker's presumptions, some some would say certainly latuenberg camp to presume that will he is -- is cory booker a shoe-in or is frank palone got some play with the democratic party, and is there really a primary? >> i think there will be a primary. i think at least initially frank palone is in the race. i think the pressure is he certainly has a certain amount of money. can he raise money against booker, who we expect will be able to raise money? i would say cory booker is prohibitive favorite maybe overstating that he is clearly a favorite. we have to see how the campaign actually plays out, but i think if you were a betting person, which i am not, but if you were, i think cory booker is the favorite. i do think it is fascinating. >> i don't think he is a heavy favorite. >> frank lautenberg would probably do anything he can to

keep it from cory booker, even when he retires, kind of taking a shot at cory booker, clearly not happy that cory booker felt the need and lau at thenberg trying to force his hand. i'm with chuck. i think booker is the favorite. i think sort of measuring the drapes is a little too soon. i wouldn't underestimate frank lautenberg's power now and in the future. >> don't forget, the running joke on twitter is he is available for another senate seat. like, you know, he has come back before. >> yes. >> he still is 11 years younger than strom was. >> the party needed him, and he came back and served. >> and he loves the job. i see him all the time. i bump into him at coffee, and he seems pretty fired up still. >> morning, noon, and night. thank you very much. kelly, what a week. from the pope to the meteorite. >> a news lover's week. >> religious people might wonder if we're starting to see some of the signs. i guess locusts were on the --

the locusts were on the cruiseship. >> among other things. >> thank you very much. >> good to see you. >> thanks to all of you, chris, and questions now in california are being raised about the decision by the san bernardino sheriff swat team to use that powerful form of tear gas known as the burner that ended up igniting the cabin where former los angeles police officer christopher had been holed up. police deputies deny that they intended to burn down the cabinet. that was the result. los angeles mayor an dono joins me now. thank you very much. i know you and the lapd put in some long hours and tremendous pressure as you were protecting 50 separate families the whole time, not knowing what was going to happen next terrorizing your city and the region. i'm glad for your sake that this is all over. talk to me about what your cleegdz in san bernardino did. law enforcement authority, i know. >> let me just say that i

couldn't be prouder of the men and women of the los angeles police department, the san bernardino sheriff deputies, the river side police department, all of whom seamlessly together to finally get and apprehend -- kill in this instance mr. dorner. look, they're going to have an after action report and investigation of how this occurred, so i'm not going to give an opinion, but i do want to remind you and the public that dorner was shooting at them with an assault weapon, and it wasnightfall was coming, and they made a decision to throw those canisters in there, and we'll look at their -- their department, i imagine, will look into it, but i think people forget that there were four innocent people killed in cold blood by christopher dorner. there were 50 people, and their families who were traumatized and terrorized. i talked to many of them, and i

can tell you that every single one of them, those officers, were not concerned about their own safety, but the safety of their children and their families. i was at the funeral for michael crane. i got to meet his family. there are a lot of people who have been devastated by the acts of mr. dorner. i think we ought to focus on that as well. >> let me ask you to give us the context for why would there be any sympathy at all for dorner? there is the backdrop of what the past history of the lapd and many who say that perhaps he didn't get a fair shake, that the past racism that we know was an acknowledged problem in that police force. what do you say to those who have, in fact, some sympathy for this man and for what may have driven him to this crazy, you know, homicidal behavior. >> well, as usual, andrea, you hit it right on the head. i don't know why anybody would have sympathy for christopher

dorner. look, our department is now almost 75% of color. latinos, african-americans, women, asian, 20% women. this is a department that is absolutely committed to constitutional policing, to community policing. that's why we're safer than any time since 1952, since i have been mayor. 40% drop in violent crime. watts, an area of the city that has had its share of challenges, nearly a 50% drop in violent crime since i have been mayor, and i can tell you that the men and women of our department are absolutely committed to a department that respects every community. you know, chief beck has said he is going to look into this matter, reopen the case. he wasn't the chief back then. that shows the commitment to transparency that this department holds near and dear, but there is nothing that could have happened to him, nothing, absolutely nothing, that

justifies killing in cold blood four innocent people. people who had nothing to do with whatever happened to him, and that's why if you can tell i'm a little hot, and i have been for some time because i've had to intertaken some of these questions, which, frankly, boggle my mind that anybody could be as concerned about what happened to him and not as concerned about what's happened to these families. >> well, if you are hot already, let me iing might it a little bit more because i want to ask you about gun laws and gun violates and what the president said in the state of the union speech and what wayne la pierre said, the head of the nra, of course, what he said was that the president's state of the union speech brought deception and manipulation to a whole new level. >> what are you going to do as the nra strengthens its counter

lobby against the president's -- >> it's clear from the press conference he did a couple of weeks ago from the statements that he has made from that commercial, that outrageous commercial that talked about the president's children, that both mr. la pierre and the nra are out of step with gun owners and with the american people. look, upwards of 80 -- i have seen even 90% of americans believe that we ought to have universal background checks. most people believe that people shouldn't -- we should toughen our gun trafficking laws so that people who can legally buy guns shouldn't be able to give it to the mentally ill or convicted criminals, people who can't buy guns. many people, upwards of a majority, close to, i think, 57% of americans, believe that we ought to have some pro hib igs or ban on assault weapons. i'm the author of the assault weapons ban in california. it works. but we need a federal assault weapons ban. you know, if you need a ten

magazine or greater ammunition clip to shoot a deer, are you in the wrong sport. most sport enthusiasts would agree with that. i think this man is clearly just out of the mainstream. it feels to me like he is from another planet, frankly. >> we'll have to leave it there. mayor antonio, thank you very much. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, andrea. up next, a court delay for oscar pistorius avenue brakes down sobbing in court. we'll have the latest on that case against the blade runner, the olympian. still ahead, the danger from outer space. reaction from russia's close enkousht with a ten-ton meteorite. you're watching "andrea mitchell reportings" only on msnbc. i wanted to call on a few people. ashley, ashley marshall... here. since we're often all on the move, ashley suggested we use fedex office to hold packages for us. great job. [ applause ] thank you. and on a protocol note, i'd like to talk to tim hill about his tendency to use all caps in emails.

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in south africa olympian

oscar pistorius sobbed openly in a south african court today as he formally was charged in had the murder of his girlfriend. a sports icon in hits country, pistorius made history as the first double amputee track athlete to compete in the olympic games. joining me now is mary core i willo with nbc sports who knows him well, profiled oscar pistorius at his home last summer for "rock center" and has been following this case. mary, what we now know is that the prosecution is claiming it is premeditated murder. pistorius' manager and family are all objecting saying that that's not what happened. how do you sort through this? >> boy, it was tough. it was a 40-minute bail hearing early this morning in south africa, andrea, and, yeah, they're calling it premeditated murder. at that point that's when oscar pistorius really began to sob, weep openly in the court. his defense team is disputing it. they say they're disputing the charge in the strongest possible

terms, so the story from pistorius aside clearly is that this was a terrible tragic mistake, but, you know, the fact remains that he had a semiautomatic weapon. he fired. it sounds like for shots. there are reports now not from the police, but reports that oscar was found in the bathroom of his home, his girlfriend in a pool of blood, that he had shot through the bathroom window. again, the story is still coming out, isn't it? but to see the images of oscar weeping openly in the court and then they delayed it now. it's not now again until next tuesday that they will continue with this. >> and his girlfriend, of course, the tragic victim in all of this. >> yes. >> it's unclear whether the defense is going to claim that this was some accident or mistaken identity, but from what you knew of him had you ever seen this side of him? you spent your time with him and you know his reputation.

>> i did. you know what, and i would never have guessed that he would be capable of such violence, andrea. i went back to reading his autobiography, something i had read on my way to south africa last year, because i wanted to see how much he mentioneded -- i wanted to remember what he said about former girlfriends, and there was one great love of his life, and he said they -- they both had fiery tempers, that they went at it, and it seems -- again, this book is a couple of years old, but he kind of wrote about it that maybe she was the one who got away, and then had he they had reconciled again. look, oscar was very rich, very famous, very good-looking. he had a lot of girlfriends, and clearly this was a beautiful looking couple. i would never have manualed that he would be capable of anything like this, but we're iffing to find out. there are reports now coming out from former, you know -- some other girlfriends saying -- a mother of one of the girlfriends saying i'm glad she got away from him, that sort of thing. clearly, i got to know this guy

for a couple of days, and i really -- i was so impressed by him. more probably than any other athlete i had ever met. i'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it. i'm still hoping that it was an awful tragedy. we're iffing to find out more and more as this unfor the latests e folds. >> it is all shocking and still to be determined next tuesday, the mechanics court date. mary, thank you very much for joining us again. >> sure. >> up next, when will the house act? will the house act on the violence against women's act? and coming up still, the hagel filibuster. stay with us. mine was earned in djibouti, africa, 2004.

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today the senate passed the violence against women's act that joe biden originally wrote almost 20 years ago, and i now urge the house to do the same. >> and joining me now here is kim, ceo of the national necessitated net work to end domestic violence. kim, we've seen the senate again pass it, and every republican woman senator voted for it. that sends a very strong signal that after the year they had the republican party in 2012, republican women, at least, feel that this is not one to take a stand against. what about pressure in the house on john boehner, who has been decidedly look warm to say the least about it. >> republican pick-ups in the senate voted for the violence against women act, including all

republican women and all democratic women. a lot of pressure on john boehner. >> there's a big issue about whether the federal government and federal courts should be getting involved on native american lands to protect tribal women from non-tribal men. >> they need to check their facts on our website we have some of those responses, but in particular they say that this is not a federal issue. well, indeed, state and local governments do have laws against domestics violence, but they don't have sufficient funding to deal with it, and there is the issue of crimes that take place across state lines, interstate crimes, and crimes on federal lands, like tribal lands, like military bases, and the like.

those simply were not addressed. violence against women act was needed to set up those critical laws in areas that were not addressed by state laws, and also to provide money that was badly needed for law enforcement for prosecution, for judges, for training, for director services. >> we're talking about $600 million plus, is that correct, a year in annual appropriations? there's some money still left over and expired in 2011 that was first enacted in 1994. it was a joe biden measure. he was headed to the judiciary committee. >> it was the co-author that was horin hatch that was a biden hatch bill in 1994 and how do you think there was a single disenting vote when it was pass examined re-authorized in 2000 and 2005. >> the thinking back in 1994, i'm thinking back of the reaction after the anita hill, clarence thomas controversy in

1991 was there more of an impetus to get behind women's issues? >> in 1992 there was the year of the woman. i always why it was just one year and one woman, but that was the big year. one woman. exactly. in 1992 i think that was the beginning of the impetus because we went from two women in the senate to a very significant number of women who were all there pushing for women's issues and addressing domestic violence. very, very important. >>. >> john boehner, from house republican men and women. >> yes. >> 19 members. >> 17 members, and i was

surprised to see that some of the house republicans who have been supportive up to this point with whom we've been working weren't even on the letter. this was a whole new set of house republicans that joined together to say we need a bipartisan bill, we need to do it, we need to get it done now, take leadership, make it happen. >> kim, it's great to see you. >> my pleasure. mroo meanwhile, in detroit prosecutor there is on a crusade to help rape victims whose cases she believes were forgotten for decades because of evidence that was warehoused by police. thousands of rape kits that were never examined. >> we are potentially looking at at that time over 2,000 rape kits representing over 10,000 cases where women had reported, whose lives are sitting on the shelf. nobody cares. i was shocked. >> "rock center's" kate snow joins me now. kate, this is an astounding case. you have been investigating. this is based on this prosecutor

and her belief. take us through the story. >> so basically it comes down to, andrea, a warehouse in the middle of downtown detroit, musty, dirty, hot warehouse and in 2009 one of the prosecutors discovers in this warehouse row after afro of rape kits. it's what a victim of rape does at the hospital in order to give dna evidence that the hopes that that dna evidence is tested and used to find the assailant, but in this case these kits, 11,303 of them, as it turned out, were sitting on a shelf. >> so is it possible for her to now try to reopen cases where there may not have been convictions or maybe there weren't any prosecutions? >> that's exactly what they're doing. they're looking at all these rape kits trying to reconcile them. they've already reconciled them with the police reports, and now looking to see if they test the dna, can they find the bad guy, and already in two cases they

have had kwixzs of men sent to prison, but it is slow going. it takes a long time to do this. so far they've only tested 600 of the 11,000 kits. >> to say nothing of the victims who never had any kind of redress, but you don't know whether any of these men victimized other women. >> well, here's the startling -- yeah. sorry. the startling thing, andrea, is that when they looked at those 600 that i just mentioned, they've already found in those 600 21 repeat offenders, so people who were serial rapists. one man, for example, his dna was snigt one of those kits. he went on to murder several women, and they believe if they had tested the dna way back when, he might have been stopped. >> this is simply incredible. kate snow, of course, we look forward to your reporting tonight on "rock center." thank you very much, and you can see more of kate snow's report on "rock center" with brian williams on nbc tonight, friday night, 10:00. its final resting place. that's exactly where you can

find "rock center" from now on. up next, the hagel filibuster and sequester politics when former top pentagon official, and next, how close could that giant asteroid come to earth? just a little over an hour from now? look outside. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] why is kellogg's crunchy nut so delicious? because every flake is double-toasted... splashed with sweet honey... and covered in rich double-roasted peanuts. mmm. [ hero ] yummy. [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. it's super delicious! [ male announcer ] kellogg's crunchy nut. ( ♪ ) for those nights when it's more than a bad dream, be ready. for the days when you get a sudden call from the school,

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[ sniffing ] ahh. mmm! [ male announcer ] yep, it's amazing what a single scoop of gain freshness can do. get more freshness from gain or get your money back, guaranteed. >> that was the terrifying sound caught on tape in central russia after a meteorite slammed into a nearby mountain region. dozens were hospitalized. nearly 1,000 other residents suffered minor injuries, and fallen debris and the impact of the meteorite's powerful landing. right now nasa is keeping close watch over an asteroid as it hurdles about 17,000 miles above the earth's surface. a record-setting approach near our planet and apparently it's under 50 feet wide. tom costello joins me from the newsroom.

tom, what do we know so far about what happened in russia? >> it was absolutely unbelievable. it was spectacular. what's kind of interesting here is so many people in russia these days have these little go pro cameras because they want to capture when they're hit in a traffic accident or official corruption. we have many views of this asteroid traveling at 33,000 miles per hour slamming into the earth's atmosphere above southwestern russia. this happened at 9:15 this morning. this town has a million people in it. thankfully most of the debris actually fell outside of the town, but it blew out the windows in nearly every single building and in many, many homes, and keep in mind, these are soviet era designs, so they're not terribly well built. a short time ago i talked to a canadian who was living there in that particular part of russia because he is a professional hockey player. michael says the shock wave from that meteor shook his apartment building, and he says the lights began to sway.

>> it blew the vents out of my bathroom, and there was debris on the floor, and i'm up on the 23rd floor, and i could feel the building swaying, so i didn't see the meteor go by, but as soon as i went and looked out the window, i saw this giant streak that had come across, and i was terrified at that point. i didn't know what it was. >> now, a lot of people in this area also were concerned that there may have been an incident that a nearby nuclear plant or a military base. thankfully, that wasn't the case. thankfully all these pieces of the meteor actually fell again outside of the town. some cases into a lake. a very close call with 1,000 people suffering injuries of some sort, thankfully, most were minor. andrea. >> tom costello, thank you very much. meanwhile, the nightmare at sea is finally over for the passengers and the national transportation safety board that's now investigating. now that after nearly a week of unlivable conditions, the carnival cruise ship triumph

finally docked in mobile, alabama. passengers were so relieved, some kissed the ground. carnival has issued refunds and has given the passengers free tickets for another cruise, but after what they went through, who is going to want to use those tickets? >> never again. never with carnival. never again. >> it was literally like being in a floating port-a-potty. >> we're going to get out of sight of this boat, and we're going to stop at mcdonald's. nice to see civilization again. >> the ceo of carnival went on board to apologize to passengers after they made it to shore. congress is now asking the coast guard to review the ens dent. defense secretary leon panetta would like to be former defense secretary leon panetta back on that walnut farm, but until chuck hagel's nomination clears the senate, panetta remains a lame-duck defense secretary. that includes having to attend the nato defense ministry meeting in brussels next week. joining me now is michelle who served as a top pentagon official in this administration and is the co-founder of the center for new american

security. what are the issues do you think as we have this sort of interim prospect with a filibuster and sort of a drip, drip, drip of different accusations against chuck hagel that every time he defends against one theshgs bring up another excuse. it's kich like whack-a-mole. >> when you look at all the different crisises, the different issues, the threat of sequestration coming, we need a smooth transition for the defense secretary. i think, you know, president obama has made his choice. i think we would ail like to see the senate act on that choice, and let's get on with it. let's move forward. >> this seems to have also emboldened critics. perhaps there would have been anyway because the issues are so controversial with targeted killings and belief that northbound got on the white paper. john brennan is also being held up. >> i think this approach to making every single nominee a highly politicized fight is really damaging.

particularly in the national security arena. absolutely the senate needs to give thorough vetting, thorough review to provide its advice and consent, but we have -- there's a lot going on in our national security, and we need a process that moves forward expeditiously. >> speaking of what is going on, this week alone north korea setting off another nuclear test. the first under the new litered, which certainly signals that he is going to try to live up to his father's policies, rather than any kind of compromise. china not indicating yet whether -- we don't have many options if china doesn't join in terms of tougher sanctions. now from what we know at least, this was a much larger blast, and they claim we can't prove it. they claim it was a smaller device. it could mean they've made real progress on miniatureization of a warhead. >> this is very worrisome from a number of perspectives. it's certainly a provocation. i think many believe it's meant

to consolidate this new young leader's power inside north korea. it puts owes a very negative trajectory. i think it's imperative that the international community does have a strong response. as you said, china is critical. china holds a lot of the cards with regard to shaping north korea's behavior and their response. >> we sent up aircraft with sensors to try to determine whether this was a uranium-fueled blast or plutonium. plutonium is the old way. uranium would be more worrying because it would increase the likelihood that they would be proliferate and that they would be able to conceal the centrifuges more easily. do we know yet? do you know whether -- >> i think it's going to take some time for that analysis to occur, but you're right. it would suggest that their program is diversifying and that they're building their -- not only their arsenal, but their -- the breadth of their expertise.

>> is there a concern that iran might be benefitting many some way from what north korea is doing. we know that north korea has helped iran along in the past. could north korea's tests be shared, the results of their tests be shared? >> there has been some technical sharing in the past. it's possible that that could happen, but i think what iran is really watching is what happens to north korea in this instance. how does the world respond? is tla real penalty for overtly testing weapon for declaring arsenal and going forward in a way that north korea has? i think that's really what they're watching zoosh briefly, while i have your expertise here, john kerry is setting off on a trip, including the middle east. he says he has a new plan for a political transition in syria. pressure from john mccain and others to do more to help the rebels. what kind of political transition is possible without russia buying in? he has been in office now a week. he has tried to talk to the

foreign minister since the north korean test, and so far has not had that call returned. that would indicate that russia is somehow avoiding a closer relationship with the new secretary. >> i think russia wra certainly needs to be engaged. i don't think we know exactly where that conversation is at the moment, but i think, you know what, secretary kerry is doing is showing the leadership that's needed from the united states to try to push political transition. that is ultimately what is going to change the course in syria and coming forward with a plan, building some consensus around that, both within syria and in the international community, i think that's right the right first step in the middle east. >> great to see you. thank you for joining us today. >> coming up next, secretary term challenges. we'll talk to michael. stay with us. ition to taste great. she was a picky eater. well now i'm her dietitian and last year, she wasn't eating so well. so i recommended boost complete nutritional drink

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the president has been expressing increasing frustration this week over the gridlock that is already dominating his second term. with two key cabinet positions now being held up. joining us is nbc news presidential historian meeblg beshloss. michael, well, we thought it was all going to go off swimmingly. no, we didn't. >> that was an awfully long time ago. >> that was an awfully long time ago. two cabinet positions, and it's pretty muddy up there on the hill. there's some progress on immigration. a leading congress said the ice is beginning to break on immigration at least. but not so much on guns yet. and certainly not on the budget. >> i think that's right. that's pretty much in line with history. f.d.r. won -- or 1936 won this huge landslide. republicans worked hard to cut them down to size and try to reduce his mandate by doing things like this in early 1937. democrats did the same thing to nixon in 1973 with a similar

landslide even before watergate. >> so how much to leverage by simply going outside, building pressure, and running against congress. we've seen that before. how much does he use this window to try to work with congress, knowing that they really can block it? >> i think it's certainly always helped for a president to speak on things like gun control. >> he has been much more passionate than some might have predicted? >> absolutely. you know the number of districts at this point in time -- the voters are the people who represent them. the result is that that's pretty limited, and he has a very limited window, i think. this year probably six to eight months is the only time that he will be able to get things that involve any big controversy on the hill, so he has to act fast. >> i have been told that democrats involved in the negotiations on immigration have said to the president give us this window, this time.

don't send legislation up. we think we can work something out, and that the president has said something to the effect of, okay, but here's your deadline, a couple of months out, whatever it progress by then, i am sending legislation up. immigration could be the real victory of the second term. >> i think that's right and even that only because of a confluence of factors that overcomes the second term thing. if republicans see it in their interest to change their minds on immigration, that's something they could do to more advance their own political cause than help the president. >> you have lindsay graham, john mccain and marco rubio, someone who tried in fact last year, couldn't get mitt romney to sign off on a plan and then the president came in with the dream act and trumped all of them. so there is some momentum now on the republican side on that. what about guns? >> guns, that's the sticking point. you look at that through -- even in the early 1970s, richard

nixon said privately if it were up to him i would outlaw, he said, every pistol in the country. he was strongly for gun control, though he didn't do much about that in public. >> michael beschloss, it's always great to have your perspective. >> thank you. >> call it a marsupial flash mob. the first round of play at the women's australian open was interrupted incredibly thursday by a herd -- is that the correct term -- a herd of galloping kangaroos. they didn't tear up the green, we're told. [ woman ] we had two tiny reasons to get our adt security system. and one really big reason -- the house next door. our neighbor's house was broken into. luckily, her family wasn't there, but what if this happened here? what if our girls were home? and since we can't monitor everything 24/7, we got someone who could.

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which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? the president is heading to chicago, home for him this afternoon. he's going to be talking about the economy. >> yup, the economy, education and maybe a little bit on gun, andrea. this is obviously a place that he -- it's his hometown, it's a place where murders are higher than they are in some other major city, gun violence.

the final stop of his sort of post state of the union tour being in georgia and north carolina before. so, yeah,ends the week at home, or at least his old home. probably it will be his home after the white house, too. so a very busy week in politician for the president and everybody else comes to a close. >> and we can all then take a deep breath and enjoy a great weekend. chris, thank you. >> thank you. >> that does it for us for this week. for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> thank you very much. have a great weekend, i'll see you on monday. president obama arrives in chicago. the president will talk about guns and considering he's on his home turf and meeting with victims of gun violence, expectations are high on what the president can say. plus, senator john mccain's

admission about chuck hagel's nomination has a lot of people reacting. we'll have our political panel talk about it. and the latest on oscar pistorius, who broke down crying in his first court appearance. and more than 1,000 people injured when a meteorite explodes over russia. and in 20 minutes, set your clocks, an asteroid will make its closest fly-by to earth. the latest on what nasa is saying. [ male announcer ] why is kellogg's crunchy nut so delicious? because every flake is double-toasted... splashed with sweet honey...

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[ loud r&b on car radio ] i'm going on break! the more you bundle, the more you save. now, that's progressive. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. developing news this hour. president obama bringing his call to action on gun control to chicago where hundreds of people have been killed by gun violence in the past year. the president is expected to arrive in his hometown any minute. chicago's gun crime rate has been on the rise, 42 deaths in january, the most reported for that month in a decade.